Soviet football legend Aleksandr Zavarov said he will not fight in the eastern Ukraine conflict, after reports surfaced that a draft notice bearing the 53-year-old’s name was delivered to the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) last week.

Zavarov, who was born in
Lugansk, has categorically refused to comply with the
notice.

“I will say one thing, I will never fight where my family and
kids live, where my parents are buried,” the assistant coach
for the Ukraine national team said. “I just want peace.”

In 1986, Zavarov was named the best football player in the USSR,
and is widely considered to be one of the best players in Soviet
history. The FFU received a conscription notice for 89 members of
the organization, Ukrainian sports papers reported last week. FFU
representative Pavel Ternovoy confirmed the reports to R-Sport
agency.

“I can confirm that many members of the Football Federation
of Ukraine received draft notices. Alexandr Zavarov and Yuriy
Syvukha were among them,” he said.

Yuriy Syvukha is a former goalkeeper and current assistant coach
for the Ukraine national team. Ternovoy said that each conscript
will have to decide for himself how to respond to his notice.

"There is a war going on right now. Every citizen should
understand what's going on. What those who got the notices will
do is entirely up to them," he said.

In January, Ukraine began a multi-stage military draft in the
hope of enlisting 100,000 new recruits. Reserve servicemen
between the ages of 25 and 60 are eligible under the new
guidelines.

However, a Ukraine army spokesperson admitted late last month
that the new draft has faced some problems as potential
conscripts attempt to dodge the wave of mobilization.